Customer Reviews

Daredevil Visionaries Vol. 1: Guardian Devil (v. 1)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is obviously the best Daredevil storyline since Frank Miller's now-classic Born Again epic way back when. The way Kevin Smith brings out the emotional, religious, and often turbulent side of Daredevil's world is truly astounding considering the fact that this is probably his first take on a comic book hero, period. I'm not going to give away too much of the story without spoiling it, but I do want to say that Smith does one hell of a job giving some kind of credibility to what I think is one of Marvel Comics' lamest villains, lol! THAT alone moved me to give this collection five stars along with the superb artwork of top-notch team Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, who are at their best at complimenting the writer's vision with their highly refined style. Definitely buy this collection if you don't want to go through all the trouble picking up these issues individually.

Although not a lifelong fan of the horned one's saga, I've always found myself drawn to the character, perhaps as a result of Frank Miller's involvement ("Born Again" is one of my favorite graphic novels of all time). It was with some reservation that I approached this, a filmmaker's attempt at writing comics. I needn't have worried.

This is the best Daredevil since Frank Miller took pen to paper to mess with Matt Murdock's life. Kevin Smith shows us more of the surprising depth he began to reveal in "Chasing Amy" and the struggle within the character, torn between being a victim and being a champion, is beautifully rendered by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti. Also noteworthy: despite the darkness of the storyline, Smith smartly douses the plot with humorous references throughout: the "Devil Cave" story told by Turk, the "Tall buildings in a single bound" line (a pointed remark to Smith's one-time involvement in writing the script for "Superman Lives").

Featuring grand drama to match any of the landmark graphic novels in the genre this is the best comic I've come across since Kingdom Come. My apologies and kudos to Kevin Smith: Sir, I now mourn your disengagement from the Superman script. I hope you will come back to this title soon.

This is a great story, I can't believe it exists. It basically draws on Kevin Smith and the rest of the classic Marvel artists' knowledge of the characters' personalities and twists them together to make a story that is touching and inspiring. This is actually a dishonest review, what I read was the comic books rather than the compilation, but I can vouch that the story is absolutely amazing. The end of issue #5, and you'll know what I mean when you see it from the appearance of the artwork that graces this volume's cover, is an incredible (and I mean it in the sense that I can't believe it) fight sequence that ends in heart-wrenching tragedy. I was reading it on a plane and had to fight back tears. It's really good, if you're a fan of any comics, I suggest this one.

Sometimes when famous fanboys are fortunate enough to be allowed to helm a comic book the results are quite abominable. Take for example, Glenn Danzig. Once, he got his music career going, he made a laughable foray into comics with his own imprint: Verotik comics. Standing on the shoulders of giants, such as Frank Frazetta, Verotik caters to adolescent Slayer fans with a taste for Hindenburg-sized breasts, blood, and more Hindenburg-sized breasts. All in an attempt to produce "Adult Comics." Fortunately, sometimes a famous fanboy like Kevin Smith comes along and actually writes comics for adults.

Case in point, Daredevil: Guardian Devil. Amidst the billy-clubbing and blind-fighting masterfully drawn by Joe Quesada, Smith presents the story of Matt Murdock, a man struggling with his faith, as his vigilante alter-ego, Daredevil, is charged with protecting a newborn infant who is alleged by the mother to be the Redeemer reborn. To complicate matters futher, another of Murdock's visitors alleges the child is Antichrist. As he attempts to ferret out the child's true identity and exactly what is going on, Murdock is assailed by Job-like tribulations that touch on all that he holds dear.

Smith's story touches on a number of religious themes: "Catholic guilt," original sin, and hubris, but fear not, True Believers, this isn't a religious-tract-in-comic-book-clothing. There's plenty of Marvel mayhem to go around. As a true fan of the medium, Smith makes ample use of his encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel pantheon. We are treated to appearances by everyone from Bullseye to Dr. Strange. There's even a cameo appearance by Stan Lee.

I never was a huge Daredevil fan growing up. I always considered him, as one character in Guardian Devil refers to him, "a second stringer." But, having been reintroduced to Matt Murdock via Kevin Smith, I'm a huge Daredevil fan now.

At first I was very hesitant in buying this graphic novel. Of course, I enjoyed reading Daredevil stories since I was in High School, but only because of Frank Miller's Daredevil: Born Again and his equally legendary Elektra Saga. Nothing more. I had perfectly assumed this new book would be another one of those present-day rip-offs (all form, no substance stuff) that's further pushing me away from reading comic books. Boy, I'm sure glad I was wrong. The book in itself was fantastic. Kevin Smith's (Chasing Amy, Dogma, Mall Rats-y'know, the works) writing was more than remarkable, it was amazing! I haven't seen lines written in comics like that in a long while now. The last time I read something as memorable was when I read Frank Miller's (again) The Dark Knight Returns. It's very interesting to note some good lines from Smith's script like "What kind of a mugger wears a suit?" or "To do my father's work, padre." Not to mention the middle part of the story where there is an unexpected plot twist that ultimately undo our protagonist's life beyond any form of redemption (hmm, I'm sounding a bit strange back there). This is excellent stuff that I'm sure is already a classic on its own. Smith does his best working as a comic book scribe so his growing number of fans certainly look forward to seeing him do more for the industry in the near future. As for the book's art, man, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti far exceed their bars of excellence sky high! Those two guys went over-the-top on this series. Oh, I wouldn't want to forget the stark and detailed computer-enhanced coloring that gave depth to the pictures. Crisp writing plus good art equals an excellent, classical read. And to top it all off, I would like to quote Matt Murdock's most remembered (and touching) line in the story that further adds greatness to the book: "There are no words..." You'll understand why when you get this graphic novel. 'Nuff, said.

Ok. Let's get the Frank Miller spectre out of the way first. This book is enough like Frank Miller that many Daredevil fans might be disappointed that it isn't Frank Miller. Bullseye even shows up to kill an important character and there is that whole Daredevil's mother the nun plot twist that I'm sure Miller did first. It's also one of those major "screw-with-Daredevil-until-he-fights-back" storylines that seem much more popular for Daredevil than other characters.

But it still is one of the best Daredevil stories in ages. Kevin Smith has a great writing style and his Catholicism doesn't interfere with the storyline, but I love it when writers use religion in a storyline and don't resort to either 1.preaching (either for or against a religion) or 2.Salinger-like ignorance (my grandfather was Jewish, I studied Zen, but I will only mention these things because it sounds cool) Kevin Smith is one of those Catholics that gets both intellectual and emotional power from Catholicism without falling into absolute loyalty. He struggles with his faith and he's much more interesting and stronger for it. THe only other writer I've encountered like that is Andrew Greely.

Art work is amazing. Smith admits in the introduction that he can't really set up shots, but the artist sure can. Smith should hire this guy on all his movies to oversee cinematography (or just do cartoons with this guy as the animator)

Besides that this is a great storyline, great art and it doesn't fall into either religious or comic book cliches. It is almost enough to revive your faith in Marvel comics.

I noticed that most of these reviews were written shortly after this arc came out. Now, almost ten years later, I think it deserves to be looked at again with fresh eyes. After having read what came after, with Bendis+Maleev and Brubaker+Lark, this just doesn't measure up. And quite frankly, it doesn't measure up to the last couple of years of Volume 1 either. I'm glad Kevin Smith came in and created a lot of hype since it meant getting Volume 2 off to a good start, but I think the hype is bigger than the quality.

Smith's material comes off as needlessly preachy in the "Catholicism department," and the plot is a little wacky. I also have problems with the pointless death of Karen Page (I guess that's a bit of a spoiler, but I guess most people picking this up in 2007 would know about that). I also can't stand Joe Quesada's art, but that's just a personal preference.

Daredevil is an amazingly versatile character that works as both fun and upbeat (like under Kesel and Kelly, respectively), and as dark and gritty (Miller, most of the people that followed Miller, Bendis, and Brubaker). I wouldn't say that Smith doesn't get the character - he obviously loves the character - but I think many other writers understand him better.

If you're completely new to DD, you might as well skip this whole chapter. At the very least, it doesn't add anything important to the mythos.

This Daredevil story written by Kevin Smith and artwork provided by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti is nothing short of outstanding. This series first appeared in the magazine format and because of its popularity was put into a graphic novel trade paperback.

Kevin Smith exceels as the author. I have not liked any of his movies, and was very skeptical about his outing as a Daredevil author. I was pleasently surprised. The story is complex, yet, he is able to explain everything that is happenning in its proper place. We have to travel along this mystery with Daredevil. Also, Smith handels the spiritual struggel of Daredevil very well. He takes Frank Miller's character sketch of Daredevil and stays true to the person while still making the story interesting and refreshing.

The artwork is spectacular. Because of the story, it could have been easy for the artists to try and stretch the boundaries of the Daredevil artistic flavor which would have been an instant noval attraction, but ultimately a long term anomoly that does not serve the comic palet.

This is one of the better comic stories to touch Marvel's shores in some time. DC seems to rule the grahic novel format. This one rivals most of DCs top hitters. Kevin Smith should keep writing for comics because there are few who can write in this genre at this level.

I haven't been into comics short of one year in my entire life (my 6th grade year in 1994). When I saw Kevin Smith was going to do a more religious and emotional take on Daredevil, I was inclined to delve back into the Marvel Universe. What I found in this book is a story with more depth and character development than 90% of all Hollywood films made within the last few years. When a story about a crimefighter in red spandex and a devil's mask can nearly bring you to tears, provide you with some spiritual insight, and make you laugh on occasion with some very sharp wit, you have a "funny book" that completely transcends its unfairly derided medium. Recommended for any adult fan of good literature.

This graphic novel is an essential read for fans of Daredevil and fans of Kevin (Clerks, Dogma) Smith. I just love everything about this book, the script, the artwork, the style, it's all faultless. The story is an ingenious tale which involves many twists and turns, there's a healthy about of action yet it also has a very mature and dark feel to it (proof that not all superhero comics are for kids). Kevin brings a lot of his common themes to this book, such as religion and the breakdown of relationships (as seen in many moving scenes in the early pages of the book) but he remains loyal to the marvel universe and makes many references to it. If you need any proof that Kevin Smith is a massive comic book fan then you have to read this just to see how he relishes the part of writing a super hero story and how he treats the character with the respect that a life long fan would have. Now, how about starting a petition to allow Kevin to write and direct the often promised Daredevil movie?